| Nom. | Gen. | Dat. | Acc. | Inst. | Prep. |
| The nominative case, именительный падеж, is the first of the six cases in Russian. It answers the following questions: кто? and что? |
| It serves the purpose of indicating the subject in a sentence. |
| The nominative case is the base form for all nouns in Russian. This means that every noun you find in a dictionary will be listed in this case, followed by any irregularities in other cases. |
This is just about all the nominative case is used for. It’s a relatively simple case.
But, as usual, this case has another usage or two. Let’s observe all the usages below.
The nominative case is used…
| to indicate the subject in a sentence |
| Виталий – труднолюбивый мужчина. Vitalii is a hard-working man. |
| Флаг белый, красный и синий. The flag is white, red and blue. |
| Анатолий и Геннадий – друзья с детства. Anatolii and Gennadiy are childhood friends. |
| На острове есть вулкан. There’s a volcano on the island. |
| with introductory words such as: это (this is, it is), вот (here), сейчас (now), сегодня (today), etc. |
| Это ужин при свечах. It’s a candlelight dinner. |
| Вот ответ на вопрос. Here’s the answer to the question. |
| Сегодня вторник. Today’s Tuesday. |
| with the preposition за |
| Что это за дерево? What kind of tree is this? |
And there you have it. The nominative case in all its usages.
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